by the furious tyranny of Alva, or to "sit still" and await the result of
the protocols about to be exchanged between king and kaiser. His arms
had been unsuccessful indeed, but had he attended the issue of this
sluggish diplomacy, it would have been even worse for the cause of
freedom. The sympathy of his best friends, at first fervent then
lukewarm, had, as disasters thickened around him, grown at last stone-
cold. From the grave, too, of Queen Isabella arose the most importunate
phantom in his path. The King of Spain was a widower again, and the
Emperor among his sixteen children had more than one marriageable
daughter. To the titles of "beloved cousin and brother-in-law," with
which Philip had always been greeted in the Imperial proclamations, the
nearer and dearer one of son-in-law was prospectively added.

The ties of wedlock were sacred in the traditions of the Habsburg house,
but still the intervention was nominally made. As early as August, 1568,
the Emperor's minister at Madrid had addressed a memorial to the King.
He had spoken in warm and strong language of the fate of Egmont and Horn,
and had reminded Philip that the executions which were constantly taking
place in the provinces were steadily advancing the Prince of Orange's
cause. On the 22nd September, 1568, the six electors had addressed a
formal memorial to the Emperor. They thanked him for his previous
interposition in favor of the Netherlands, painted in lively colors the
cruelty of Alva, and denounced the unheard-of rigor with which he had
massacred, not only many illustrious seigniors, but people of every
degree. Notwithstanding the repeated assurances given by the King to the
contrary, they reminded the Emperor, that the inquisition, as well as the
Council of Trent, had now been established in the Netherlands in full
vigor. They maintained that the provinces had been excluded from the
Augsburg religious peace, to which their claim was perfect. Nether
Germany was entitled to the same privileges as Upper Germany. They